Mailing List Archive

trouble with html form after Debian upgrade to Bookworm
Hi all,

I host a few case/customer management applications developped with mod_perl on Debian; these applications provide html forms with which users can record documents pertaining to the case/customer.

These forms include various <input type=text|hidden|file> controls. A user may update a record to change the document or some text field, like the date, without changing the document itself (see the signature for an example, select any file in the demo account, click on the 'Documents' tab).

After I upgraded my servers to Debian Bookworm, my users signaled that they could not simply update a text field anymore : a document was to be selected, otherwise no change could take place. It appears that the <input> fields on the form placed AFTER <input type=file> did not find their way into @args if the latter was empty.

Correcting the problem was simple : in my html page, I simply placed the <input type=file> control last, and all controls are now submitted even when no new file is present.

I'm wondering if any of you has an idea of what caused this change in behaviour?


# dpkg -l *apache2* |grep ii
ii apache2 2.4.57-2 amd64 Apache HTTP Server
ii apache2-bin 2.4.57-2 amd64 Apache HTTP Server (modules and other binary files)
ii apache2-data 2.4.57-2 all Apache HTTP Server (common files)
ii apache2-utils 2.4.57-2 amd64 Apache HTTP Server (utility programs for web servers)
ii libapache2-mod-apreq2 2.17-3~bpo12+1 amd64 generic Apache request library - Apache module
ii libapache2-mod-perl2 2.0.12-1+b2 amd64 Integration of perl with the Apache2 web server
ii libapache2-reload-perl 0.13-4 all module for reloading Perl modules when changed on disk
ii libapache2-request-perl 2.17-3~bpo12+1 amd64 generic Apache request library - Perl modules

--
Legal/insurance case management software
https://legalcase.libremen.com
Re: trouble with html form after Debian upgrade to Bookworm [ In reply to ]
On Nov 15, 2023, at 7:43 PM, vv.lists <vv.lists@wanadoo.fr> wrote:
> I'm wondering if any of you has an idea of what caused this change in behaviour?

What versions were you using before you upgraded?

I would recommend comparing the differences between the versions. Start with the change logs and then diff the source code (if you are savvy with C code).

If I had to guess where the regression is, I would guess that it's probably in libapreq2. I seem to recall some changes to parser_multipart.c that at least one person later reported issues with. I don't think they've ever been resolved. I posted a message to modperl-dev on October 27, 2022, about it, and never received a reply.

If you could revert to libapreq-2.16 and test with that, that might be useful to isolating the issue.

Hope this helps,
Ed
Re: trouble with html form after Debian upgrade to Bookworm [ In reply to ]
On Wed, 15 Nov 2023 20:48:59 -0500
Ed Sabol <edwardjsabol@gmail.com> wrote:

> What versions were you using before you upgraded?
>

Whatever was in Debian Buster, but I upgraded all my machines by now.

> If I had to guess where the regression is, I would guess that it's probably in libapreq2.

Joe Schaefer forgot to CC the list when he replied, so pasting it here. He wrote :

> You need to build and compile and install apreq from subversion sources.
>

Which seems to confirm your guess.

>
> If you could revert to libapreq-2.16 and test with that, that might be useful to isolating the issue.
>

Not sure I'll be able to. Will have a look.

Thank you both.

--
Bien ? vous, Vincent Veyron

https://marica.fr/
Logiciel de gestion des sinistres assurances, des dossiers contentieux et des contrats pour le service juridique
Re: trouble with html form after Debian upgrade to Bookworm [ In reply to ]
On Wed, 15 Nov 2023 20:48:59 -0500
Ed Sabol <edwardjsabol@gmail.com> wrote:

>
> If you could revert to libapreq-2.16 and test with that, that might be useful to isolating the issue.
>

I downloaded libapreq-2.13-7 which contains libapreq2.so.3.8.0 and symlinked libapreq2.so.3 to that instead of libapreq2.so.3.8.1

Forms are working normally again.

--
Bien ? vous, Vincent Veyron

https://marica.fr
Logiciel de gestion des contentieux juridiques, des contrats et des sinistres d'assurance
Re: trouble with html form after Debian upgrade to Bookworm [ In reply to ]
On Thu, 16 Nov 2023 01:43:16 +0100
"Vincent Veyron" <vv.lists@wanadoo.fr> wrote:

Hi All,

Following advice from Joe Schaefer, I compiled libapreq2 from subversion sources.

Make install fails with : make: *** No rule to make target 'install'. Stop. (Unix build)

So, I simply replaced the libapreq2.so.3.8.1 file provided by the Debian package with the one compiled locally, found in httpd-apreq-2/library/.libs, and this solves the problem, forms are working again.

Is it okay to simply proceed this way, or should I look for a way to make install?

By the way, Perl build fails with :
/home/vincent/tmp/httpd-apreq-2/glue/perl/xsbuilder/apreq_xs_postperl.h:22:10: fatal error: modperl_perl_unembed.h: No such file or directory
22 | #include "modperl_perl_unembed.h"
| ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
compilation terminated.

--
Bien ? vous,

Vincent Veyron